When something is exceptionally good in life, perhaps the fried zucchini slices of late summer or the garden, beautiful as it is, but still a backdrop to the evening sky, when the sun dips its oil lamp past the horizon, perhaps then. When I get to kiss the constellation of a body late at night, pressed into the dark face of gravity, as if it is a whole universe made just for me. The glow of this luck may make me feel faint, temporary, outstanding. The stars are out. And the stars are out. There is no trick to the light.
Katy Luxem is based in Salt Lake City. She is a graduate of the University of Washington and the University of Utah. Her work has appeared in Rattle, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Poetry Online, Appalachian Review, North Dakota Quarterly, and others. She is the author of Until It Is True, which is forthcoming from Kelsay Books in fall 2023.
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The more I read this poem, the more I find to love about it. It is so easy to doubt the light.
Enjoyed this poem, Katy! When your book comes out, I hope you'll send it along to Tweetspeak for possible review. :)